Page 3

“Take your time. I’ll wait in the car until you’re ready.”

Scarlett disappears into the house. I hear her calling for Caitlin and James as the door closes, and I squeeze my eyes tight. What a fucking mess. And I have to be the one to break the news to my siblings that we have … more siblings.

I make my way back to my rental car as quickly as I can manage without falling on my ass on the icy ground. Cranking the heat, I watch my breath cloud the air as I exhale. In and out. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to tell my siblings about our dad fucking up. He didn’t show up for Ronan’s big dance competition when he was fifteen, and I had to break it to him afterward. All the times he promised to take Fallon riding before a friend’s birthday pony party, but didn’t, then couldn’t even get her to the party on time.

We’re all used to him fucking up. But this is a whole other level.

The hot air tickles my fingers as I scroll through my contacts on the car’s Bluetooth screen and hit “call” on my sister’s name. She answers on the second ring.

“Hey. You find her?” Fallon asks casually, like I’ve been looking for something at the grocery store and not the woman we believed our dad was fucking around with.

“I found her,” I reply with a sigh. My brother’s familiar curse sounds down the line—they must be playing Mario Kart again. “Is that Ronan? Can you put me on speaker?”

“You’re already on—For fuck’s sake, Fallon. Can you try to drive in a straight line?” Ronan groans.

“It’s not my fault you—”

“Hey,” I cut them off, rubbing my temples. There’s a tension headache creeping over my skull, and I don’t know if my body is asking for caffeine, alcohol, or a sleeping pill to knock me out and forget about all of this for ten hours. “I don’t have a lot of time, and I need to talk to you about something serious. Put the game down.”

Ronan grumbles, but Fallon’s voice is suspicious when she speaks up.

“What do you mean, serious? What’s going on, Kill?”

I take a deep breath. “I found her—Scarlett. She’s not what we expected. None of this is what we expected.”

2

Scarlett

All I wanted was an orgasm, courtesy of a hot older man with an Irish accent. It wasn’t even a good orgasm, and now here I am, almost nine years later, with two kids, no life to speak of, and his son parked outside my house after dropping a goddamn bombshell on me while Christmas music played.

’Tis the fucking season.

He has a wife. Of course he has a wife. Why wouldn’t he? I should’ve questioned him more, should’ve questioned everything more.

But I was eighteen and naive. And then I was twenty-one and lonely. And now I’m twenty-six and pissed off, still a little naive, and a whole lot of lonely.

It was all worth it for the two kids currently squabbling over who gets to carry the stuffed Olaf toy my brother gave them last week. But knowing that does nothing to soothe the guilt taking root in the marrow of my bones. Sure, I have the most incredible kids around, but I had them with another woman’s husband.

Once upon a time, I believed Dom when he said he was going to move to Canada, marry me, and make us a real family. It’s been years since I let that dream go; I figured out a long time ago that he’s not the man he promised me he was. But never in a million years did I think I was the other woman—that he made me the other woman.

As if getting knocked up by a man in his forties when I was eighteen wasn’t shameful enough.

I choke down the panic and guilt wrapping themselves around my chest, squeezing tight, before reaching behind the couch to grab the matching reindeer plushy, and hand it to James. I can’t let them see me rattled.

“Caity-cat, you take Olaf. James, take the reindeer.”

“His name is Sven, Mama,” James tells me, shaking his head like he can’t believe I haven’t retained the name of every cartoon animal that appears in our house.

“Okay, well, I think Sven is excited to hang out with Aunt Piper, so let’s go.”

I’ve never been more grateful that my best friend bought the house directly across the street from mine. I ferry the kids over, only just stopping James from slipping on the icy path. Another thing I need to deal with.

It’s impossible to ignore Killian’s car, or to miss the silhouette of him in the driver’s seat with his head in his hands, as we pass. I can’t even imagine what he’s feeling right now. As hard as this is for me, he’s known his dad for longer—it has to be worse for him. He obviously knew that his dad wasn’t faithful to his mom, but finding out he has two half-siblings has to be a shock.

By the time I reach Piper’s front door, Caitlin has already knocked and Piper appears a second later.

“Hey— Okay, come on in,” she says, glancing back as my kids race past her down into her house. It’s practically their second home.